CARSON, Calif. (July 11) — A patient FC Dallas offense finally unlocked Crossfire Premier in the 75th minute to earn a 1-0 victory under the lights at The Home Depot Center. With a sublime ball dropped into the center of the box, David Robledo found Bradley Baladez who trapped and fired to score the first and only goal of the game.

A cool night at The Home Depot Center ensured a fast start to the game, with FC Dallas playing quick passes through the center of the park and Crossfire countering with quick balls up to their two fast strikers.

Despite the possession FC Dallas found, Crossfire earned the first decent shot of the match when Kelyn Rowe took a chance on a free kick from 25 yards. Striking hard towards goal, his shot beat the wall but was deflected out by a defender.

Upon clearing the ensuing corner, FC Dallas got back to keeping possession, with Jose Perez particularly active in the center of the midfield. In the 13th minute, Moises Hernandez tried to find last year’s U-15/16 Academy Player of the Year Ruben Luna with a diagonal cross from distance. The target forward leapt to make contact with the pass in the right side of the box, but couldn’t put his effort on frame.

In the 24th minute, Dallas’ passing nearly cashed in after Perez drew several defenders before laying off to captain Victor Ulloa. With a quick one-touch pass Ulloa found Luna, who turned and shot on goal only to see the effort tipped over the bar and out for a corner by Crossfire goalkeeper Andrew Weakly.

Despite the pace up top for Crossfire, Dallas’ defense was successful in keeping Rowe and fellow striker Liam Kelly away from goal. In fact, Crossfire’s best chance of the game came from a built-up counter attack rather then a long ball down the sideline. After taking possession, midfielder Jim Oganga took the ball through the center before sending a diagonal ball to Rowe along the left side of the field. Facing two defenders, the Washington striker chose to cut inside and run along the top of the box, finding space to let fly from the center of the key, but the hard strike went over the goal.

From then on out FC Dallas looked to keep possession, comfortable with playing the ball back and choosing their attacks carefully. But it was a counter out of the back that got them on the board however, started with a throw from goalkeeper Eduardo Cortes to David Robledo. After passing to Ulloa in the center, Robledo kept running along the right and received the ball back. Seeing numbers in the box, the midfielder dropped a soft ball onto the chest of Baladez who had found space between a few Crossfire defenders. Baladez confidently dropped the ball to his right foot and struck his open shot into the left side of the goal to give FC Dallas the lead in the 75th minute.

With an already heavy advantage in possession, FC Dallas continued to swing the ball around and kill the clock. Despite a Crossfire push up the field in the closing minutes, the Texas side held on to preserve the win in their first match of the week.